


Papa Time and the Eight Little Linklings

by artistica18



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Humor, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-09 00:37:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19878730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artistica18/pseuds/artistica18
Summary: I wanted to write about Time adopting all of the Links kind of one by one but also all at once.This is what happens if Time is the last Link to join the group and how his relationship with each Link grows from it.





	Papa Time and the Eight Little Linklings

**Author's Note:**

> Linked Universe was created by Jojo.  
> This is completely non-canon compliant with their work.  
> But that's what fanfic is for, right?

It was raining. 

It was not a nice light drizzle either, oh no. This was the kind of rain that made everything slick and soggy, when the mud sucked at your boots like a Lik-Lik and the drops fell in your eyes and made it impossible to see.

Link hated days like this. Especially in the early morning when he had to take care of the horses. They had to be fed, and Link did not fault them, but he did add another tiny item to his list of curses against the goddesses. 

Little did he know that that list was about to get a lot longer.

The rain fell too thick and hard for him to hear anything inside the barn. If it hadn’t, then perhaps he wouldn’t have been taken by surprise as he was when he pushed open the door. As it was, he found his hand twitching towards a sword that was no longer there, and reaching for a shield that was still hanging on the mantle in the house. There was a dark shape huddled in the back of the barn, and now he could hear the whispers as they hushed each other. He frowned and opened the door a little more, trying to get some light to see by.

“Who’s there?” He called out forcefully. “Show yourself!”

There were a few mutters among the hunched shapes. He cursed in his head, he was outnumbered if this came to a fight. Link tried to listen to what they were saying, but caught only snatches.   
Finally, one of them spoke up. “Well fine, I’ll do it then!” and one of the shapes broke off from the others. 

Link was almost bowled over in shock when the figure finally got into his sight. It was a boy. A young boy, barely a teenager, wearing a blue tunic and soaked to the bone, shivered in the middle of Link’s barn.

“Excuse me, mister. We’re very sorry for trespassing but... we couldn’t find anywhere to stay. We were just trying to wait out the rain. We don’t mean any harm.” 

Link’s eyes adjusted to the light and he looked behind the boy to see seven more, the oldest of which is _maybe_ in his early twenties. Barely. Link covered his face with a hand. “Malon is going to kill me,” he muttered. “Yeah, okay,” he said louder. “Let me get the horses fed and then I’ll help you.”

The oldest one scrambled to his feet. “I can help. I’m from a farm too.”

Link just nodded and pointed to the feed bins. “The sooner the better. Leave the one with the white blaze though, she gets-” he turned around to see the young man petting Epona’s nose. “-testy with strangers... what the fuck? No, never mind. Just... hurry up and let’s get inside.”

Malon was, understandably, perturbed and upset when her husband came back from feeding the animals with not one, not two, but EIGHT young men and boys who are all soaking wet and shivering from the cold. She raised one eyebrow at Link and the former hero just shrugs helplessly, mouthing “I have no idea” over the heads of the group.

Malon sighed and started to get more plates out. “You can dry yourselves by the fire. I’ll see what I can do for food.”

The boys don’t object and hurry to the fireplace. A couple of them lingered behind and offered to help but she shoos them off.

While Malon works, Link goes to talk to the group and figure out exactly what is going on.

“So, do you lot have names?” That seemed like a good starting point.

Except apparently it wasn’t. They all looked at each other, hesitating. It really shouldn’t be a hard question, Link thought to himself.

“I’m Sky.” Finally, an answer. “But I’m also Link.” What?

“That’s... quite a coincidence?” Link had a sinking feeling that it’s not much of one at all.

“We’re all named Link,” said the littlest one with the patchwork tunic. “And I guess you are too?”

Link put his head in his hands and groaned out a curse. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

The other Links all look at each other before Sky spoke up again, “we’ve been looking for you. We don’t know why, or how, but each of us has been... displaced? For lack of a better word- from our own worlds. Something is happening. Something bigger than anything we’ve faced alone.”

“Doubt it,” Link muttered. “And you think... what, I’m needed for this too?”

“She wouldn’t have sent us here if you weren’t.”

Link groaned again and let a hand run down his face. “Goddess be damned,” he finally snarled and stood up, storming back out into the rain.

He could faintly hear Malon calming the group and stopping them from following as he trudged back out. He stood in the pouring rain for a moment, letting it wash down his face. 

He was finished. His work was done. He’d done all he was destined to and more and now it’s come crawling back to him.

Link shouted vitriol into the heavens, certain that they could hear him inside the house and failing to care. He snarled and cursed and screamed out every insult he could imagine, raging at the goddess.

He could say no.

He could stay here, happy with Malon and the family they were planning to start. He was going to be a dad soon, or at least they were going to start trying. He was happy. For once, he was truly happy. He didn’t have to go. He had a choice. He could choose happiness.

Except that he couldn’t. He cursed one last time, this time at his Hero’s Spirit, and marched back into the house.

He slammed open the door, causing everyone to jump. He ignored the questions from the group of Heroes and marched upstairs.

For a long minute, it is quiet.

Finally, he came back down, wearing armor that he swore would never see the light of day but that he always kept polished, just in case. In one hand was a sword far too large for a normal man to wield and a shield, strapped to his back. 

The oldest of the heroes, the one Epona liked, the one called the Hero of Twilight, looked a little sick.

Malon put a hand on his shoulder. “Link... are you sure? What if... what if you don’t come back?”

Link turned to Malon and covered her hand with his own. She saw in his eyes what he knew in his heart. There was no choice. Not truly. Not really.

Link sheathed the sword and looked down at the group from the stairs. “You said your names came from your titles?”

The young one, the one who introduced himself as Wind, nodded, as speechless from awe as all the rest.

“Then you may call me Time.”


End file.
